A new endovascular catheter, recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is paving the way to more effective and safe treatment for acute pulmonary embolism. Already shown to be effective for reducing blockages in lung arteries, new research shows that this catheter also reduces blockages in the smaller segmental pulmonary artery branches. These branches are ultimately responsible for oxygenating the blood in the lungs. The new study, which was part of the National Institutes of Health-sponsored multicenter RESCUE clinical trial, further showed a correlation between decreased numbers of blockages in the small lung arteries and functional recovery of the right ventricle of the heart, which pumps blood into the main pulmonary artery of the lungs. Compared to other devices, the BASHIR™ catheter also had significantly lower bleeding rates, a key advance in acute pulmonary embolism treatment. The findings are described in JACC: Advances.
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